Sharks’ Outdoor Game At Levi’s Stadium: Can They Really Sell All 68,500 Seats? And Will We See NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman With A Cowbell?

No big hockey shock, right? Wednesday’s announcement of the Sharks’ outdoor game for Feb. 21 was long expected. And in recent weeks, it had become clear that Levi’s Stadium was probably the preferred venue. The Shark front office and National Hockey League merely wanted to make sure they were correct in the assumption that the game would sell out.

I know. We’re talking 68,500 seats here, at prices ranging from $65 to $350. Sounds like a lot of seats. Sounds like a lot of money. But the league, which bears the financial risk for the game, is confident that the stadium will be full for the Sharks vs. Kings when the puck drops.

They’re probably right. But we’ll find out soon enough. There will be exclusive pre-sales for Sharks’ season ticket holders, Kings’ season ticket holders and 49ers season ticket holders during the next week. At least for Sharks’ fans, every season ticket holder can purchase up to 11 seats for the game. Not sure about the Kings and 49ers season ticket holders. But if the pre-sale doesn’t manage to sell out three-quarters of the stadium–roughly 50,000 seats–before tickets go on sale to the regular public, that would be a bad indication.

John Tortora, the Sharks’ chief operating officer, said in a Wednesday conference call that he expected to see 68,500 customers at Levi’s. Seats in the lower stadium bowl will all cost $100 or more, per the seating chart at this link: http://sharks.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=99505&navid=RED .

Tortora also called the outdoor game “one of the biggest sporting events ever” in the Bay Area. Some might dispute that, given hockey’s popularity compared to the NFL, MLB and NBA. But in terms of a firmly scheduled event — as opposed to NBA, NHL and MLB playoff or World Series games that are subject to the home teams winning enough games to qualify — you could make a case that the hockey game might rank behind only Super Bowl XIX at Stanford and the upcoming Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium in February of 2016. What else would be bigger? The San Jose Grand Prix auto race that drew 150,000 to downtown’s streets? The Big Game in football with Stanford and Cal? The U.S. Open Golf Tournaments at Olympic Club? All those would have valid arguments, too. You might think of one or two more that I’ve missed.

The hockey hype machine will really crank up next month with a press event at Levi’s that will likely feature NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and explain all of the ancilliary functions held in conjunction with the game. That will likely include a public skating session, perhaps a college club hockey game involving local teams and maybe some sort of hockey expo at either the San Jose or Santa Clara convention centers. Last year when the Kings and Ducks played at Dodger Stadium, there was also a KISS pregame concert that yielded this awesome photo of Bettman and Gene Simmons:

I don’t know about you, but I’m personally hoping that major hockey fan and local resident Neil Young (whose late father was a renowned and revered NHL print journalist in Canada) will get involved in the Levi’s Stadium game and find a way to put Bettman on stage in a flannel shirt with a cowbell.

You can read my blog posting from a few weeks ago that outlined the eight issues that were in play deciding where the game would be played, plus revealed the financial structure of the game and rain-date possibilities, plus predicted that Santa Clara would end up being the probable location. Here’s the link: http://blogs.mercurynews.com/purdy/2014/06/24/hasnt-nhl-anno…ht-issues-hand/ .

The choice of Levi’s Stadium, it seems, was no slam dunk but pretty close to it. Here’s why: The sizzle of playing the game at AT&T Park in San Francisco was a tempation. That would also have provided gorgeous television pictures with the rink adjoining McCovey Cove. But too many things worked against it. Ticket prices would have been significantly higher because of the smaller capacity. And the Sharks are a South Bay team, after all.

(Addendum: Stupid me. After writing my initial blog post, I was checking the hockey seating chart for the Feb. 21 game and noticed that the luxury suite building on the west side of Levi’s Stadium is called the “SAP Tower.” As we all know, SAP software was founded by Sharks’ owner Hasso Plattner, who still sits on the company’s board. That’s why the former HP Pavilion is now called SAP Center. Given that the company also holds a major sponsorship position at Levi’s Stadium, you can bet that had an effect on the NHL’s decision to play the game in Santa Clara. Plattner is one of the league’s two or three richest owners. The league likes to keep its richest owners happy.)

The 49ers’ new home also will provide better sightlines for hockey than would the Giants’ ballpark. And just as important, the Levi’s Stadium hospitality areas — in the clubs and luxury suites — are larger and more numerous than at AT&T Park, allowing more corporate and high-end customers to attend and feel cool about being high-end customers.

Here’s the wild card to me: How many LA Kings fans will journey northward for the game? Tortora thought it would be 1,000 or 2,000. I think he’s being too conservative, from what I’ve seen of the Kings fan base. February 21 is a Saturday night. The Kings are the defending Stanley Cup champions. The team’s followers are likely to treat this the way college football fans treat a bowl game and turn it into a Bay Area weekend with lots of partying. At last season’s Dodger Stadium game, one voice I trust said that Kings fans occupied 75% of the 54,009 seats and Ducks’ fans only filled 25% of the ballpark.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see 6,000 or more LA fans, maybe even more, at Levi’s in February. It’ll be interesting to see if the rest of the crowd consists of hockey fans or just big-event fans. But either way, it should be the largest hockey game attendance in California history.

The outdoor game buzz, of course, also gives the Sharks an opportunity to put behind them the Summer of Shame following their awful playoff exit — to the Kings, of course — and may boost any flagging season ticket sales. The players in other outdoor games have been pumped to participate and I expect that will be true this time, as well.

As for me, I get paid the same to cover outdoor games as indoor games. So I’m going to keep my excitement in check. Unless I see a flanneled Bettman with that cowbell. I’d definitely buy that on a souvenir tee shirt.